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Luna

I think not only she was supposed to have a bigger role, but she was set to be the Moon Princess, before Naoko decided to make the whole reincarnation part of te story, and giving that to Usagi. Naru is considered pretty, lady-like, she is wealthy and she lives in a jewelry store. The princess herself was from the begging said to guard the Silver Crystal by Luna from the day one. The anime turned her into someone to constantly be in needof protection, while the guardians are supposed to protect the princess. And the thing that really makes this was the original plan for her is her name. Naru which can be an anagram for Runa or Luna.

Another possible role set for her was that she was supposed to be Sailor Saturn. She was the only character, besides the guardians and Mamoru, to be given a birthday 1st of January, which makes her protected by Saturn. And we know that the rest of the characters birthdays were chosen to reflect teir planet.

What theory do you find more likely? Do you have your own theory about Naru? Or you might she is what she has always been - just a friend of Usagi that ended up forgotten.

Luna Crescens

I haven't read the manga, but even in the anime, she definitely seemed like she was going to pay a bigger role. Sailor Mercury's brazilian VA recalls the voice director getting annoyed because he "wasted" his daughter (one of the few available female VAs that could pull out a natural sounding young voice) on "Molly". He thought she was going to become a Sailor Senshi.

Luna Crescens

No she probably wasn't.Sailor moon was more like a rework of sailor v.To have more characters for an anime.If memory servers correctly they were two characters.That were reused for Usagi friends that were Sailor v friends.Usagi was meant to be the main character,and had moon in her name.If Naru was meant to be the princess? They would been more hints or something.Or she would be the main character .

Luna

No she probably wasn't.Sailor moon was more like a rework of sailor v.To have more characters for an anime.If memory servers correctly they were two characters.That were reused for Usagi friends that were Sailor v friends.Usagi was meant to be the main character,and had moon in her name.If Naru was meant to be the princess? They would been more hints or something.Or she would be the main character .

Aurorae Lunares

Naoko Takeuchi is not subtle. She's not a writer who's known for plot twists. The only instance in the manga where there was any real uncertainty was Chibi Chibi's identity (Usagi's second daughter? Chibiusa's daughter? Another descendant/member of the moon's royal family? Nope - she's Usagi from the very distant future!). It's pretty obvious to me that Usagi was always going to be the Moon Princess. Trust me; if Naoko had any early plans of making Naru the Moon Princess, it'd be clear as day. Naru was never meant to be anything other than Usagi's friend.

Yah, but that was a more warrior story.They also made it clear who was the princess in the begin.In most shojo stories the princess is the main character.If Naru was meant to be the princess.She would also had a way bigger role in the beginning

Luna Crescens

I think not only she was supposed to have a bigger role, but she was set to be the Moon Princess, before Naoko decided to make the whole reincarnation part of te story, and giving that to Usagi. Naru is considered pretty, lady-like, she is wealthy and she lives in a jewelry store. The princess herself was from the begging said to guard the Silver Crystal by Luna from the day one. The anime turned her into someone to constantly be in needof protection, while the guardians are supposed to protect the princess. And the thing that really makes this was the original plan for her is her name. Naru which can be an anagram for Runa or Luna.

Another possible role set for her was that she was supposed to be Sailor Saturn. She was the only character, besides the guardians and Mamoru, to be given a birthday 1st of January, which makes her protected by Saturn. And we know that the rest of the characters birthdays were chosen to reflect teir planet.

What theory do you find more likely? Do you have your own theory about Naru? Or you might she is what she has always been - just a friend of Usagi that ended up forgotten.

I doubt that Naru was going to be the princess or probably have any bigger a role then she actually got. Really she probably got a bigger role in the 90s anime then in the manga especially with the very beefy Naru/Nephrite story.

However it is interesting you mentioned Naru as possibly being Sailor Saturn. Because many Japanese fans of the anime before Sailor Moon S was released and the real Sailor Saturn, Hotaru Tomoe was shown did think that Naru was going to be Sailor Saturn because of her birthday of January 1st which makes her a Capricorn. In fact Hotaru herself's birthday is actually very close to Naru's on the calendar as Hotaru was born January 6th.

Of course I know many American fans thought she would be Sailor Earth even though this wouldn't work because Tuxedo Mask is Earth's Senshi but it is a popular concept. In my fanfiction for instance my brother and I made Naru into Sailor Sedna and one of our Outer Most Senshi team.

Luna

It really seems odd that Naoko put a lot of detail for this particular character at the begining only to use her as a very minor role. Other minor characters didnt get it at all. Maybe it was just done to surprise people in the end. However, it is possible the character wasn't very popular so she reduced her role, or she opted for a more dramatic fairytale feeling deciding on Usagi being thecprincess reincarnated etc.

Aurorae Lunares

I mean... Naru isn't exactly a very minor role. Sure she's reduced to making minor appearances now and then after the first arc, but I still wouldn't say she's a "very minor" character. It's likely Naoko intended for her to be a regular presence throughout the series at first, but that doesn't mean she was gonna make her the Moon Princess.

I also don't see how Naru was peculiarly given a lot of detail. Look at the Materials Collection. This is the only page featuring Naru, and it's just a headshot with no detail. Compare this to Motoki and Reika, the Tsukino family, even Diana the Moon Fairy. None of those characters were more prevalent than Naru (and Diana didn't even make it into the story), yet Naoko evidently put more thought into them than she put into Naru when first creating them. If Naoko had planned at first for Naru to be the Moon Princess, don't you think Naru would have a full, detail-filled design/concept page?

Luna Crescens

After all she went through in the first season of the 90's anime, it's probably good that she vanished. That being said, it'd have been nice if she had made sporadic appearances during SuperS and Stars --and finally said that she knew that Usagi was Sailor Moon in Stars.

Luna

Nobody can be sure of how far Naoko planned the story when she started. Maybe she started with an idea that there will be some Moon Princess that might no be a main character but something more like a presence. In many tokusatsu shows that inspired Sailor Moon there is such characters. Or maybe she initally wanted to make people believe that someone else is the princess hintig towards Naru, but soon dropped that idea.

I don't know Naru was pretty active in the seasons where Unazuki was. Naru was in the first season all the way to SuperS by Sailor Stars we pretty much never saw any of the old supporting characters again and instead we just got various victims of the day. I honestly think in Sailor Stars the only supporting cast member from the early seasons we saw was Ikuko though if anyone remembers anyone else by all means correct me.

Luna Crescens

Naru was just a character written to give Usagi someone to interact with before all the Guardians joined the cast. The anime remembered her for a bit, but she was largely reduced to a minor role because the story just didn't need her anymore. I highly doubt she was ever written to be anything more.